Murray flutes are very responsive, and can be very loud. They have a fantastic bark, and are very suited to the Belfast sytle of flute playing.
Very good value for money.
One thing about them....due to the very thin walls, they sometimes have a tendancy 2 crack!
Murray's flutes - what are they like?
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garyfitz123
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garyfitz123
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Maybe im just unlucky. The Barrel split completly on my murray, and the tendon in the 2nd-to bottom section has also cracked twice...well it cracked, was pinned by sam himself, and then opened up again.
The last time i was down with Sam, he showed me several flutes which he had in the workshop which were cracked. Maybe you were a lucky one Harry
The last time i was down with Sam, he showed me several flutes which he had in the workshop which were cracked. Maybe you were a lucky one Harry
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Cathy Wilde
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I have two and they're quite different to look at side by side (beyond the fact one has keys and one doesn't and one is boxwood and the other is blackwood). Their head lengths are slightly different, as is their blowhole placement.
They are both joys to play and parting with either would break my heart.
Both also have repaired cracks, one in the head and barrel and the other in the head, barrel, and foot. I don't know what happened to crack the one; it came to me that way; the other ran afoul of a New York snowstorm, hoop stress, and a stupid owner overeager to play at the Swift's session (i.e., me).
I still hold they're a bit "thinner" walled than any other flute I've met (they're certainly thinner than the Olwell, McGee, Hamilton, or Gallagher I've owned), which is what makes them so wonderfully lively and resonant -- but I wonder if this may also make them a bit more sensitive to certain environmental stresses (including Flying Harrys)(poor bunkie!).
My two seem more dramatically tapered from head to foot than other flutes, making them whiplike and elegant. They are very lightweight. They seem capable of a wonderful range of tonal options if you're clever enough to find and use them. I find their volume sufficient for my purposes.
They're not for everyone, but I'm happy with mine. I agree that they're a great value as well. As my blacksmith says about horses you could put to just about any task, they're "good usin' flutes."
But it's like anything else, we can talk about it all day. The only way to know anything about any flute is to play it a bunch. Even if it's a flute you're not so sure about at first, that doesn't mean things won't change if you play it enough.
They are both joys to play and parting with either would break my heart.
Both also have repaired cracks, one in the head and barrel and the other in the head, barrel, and foot. I don't know what happened to crack the one; it came to me that way; the other ran afoul of a New York snowstorm, hoop stress, and a stupid owner overeager to play at the Swift's session (i.e., me).
I still hold they're a bit "thinner" walled than any other flute I've met (they're certainly thinner than the Olwell, McGee, Hamilton, or Gallagher I've owned), which is what makes them so wonderfully lively and resonant -- but I wonder if this may also make them a bit more sensitive to certain environmental stresses (including Flying Harrys)(poor bunkie!).
My two seem more dramatically tapered from head to foot than other flutes, making them whiplike and elegant. They are very lightweight. They seem capable of a wonderful range of tonal options if you're clever enough to find and use them. I find their volume sufficient for my purposes.
They're not for everyone, but I'm happy with mine. I agree that they're a great value as well. As my blacksmith says about horses you could put to just about any task, they're "good usin' flutes."
But it's like anything else, we can talk about it all day. The only way to know anything about any flute is to play it a bunch. Even if it's a flute you're not so sure about at first, that doesn't mean things won't change if you play it enough.
Deja Fu: The sense that somewhere, somehow, you've been kicked in the head exactly like this before.
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michael c
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I've been mistreating my Sam Murray flute for years and haven't managed to break it. I did nearly made him sick at Easter when he found what was inhabiting its bore but that's not quite the same. I can see how the owner of a cracked flute may feel a bit frustrated (especially if your bottom tendon cracks) but I don't think that there are many flute makers' workshops around without flutes under repair. An instrument made out of wood which has been thinned out in order to resonate is never going to be unbreakable. In about 20 years of dropping his product on the ground I've never done it much harm. I'm not saying other flutes would have shattered. I'm just saying that Sam's never did.
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Harry
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Not lucky I think: I've played them in the same environment in which they were cured, stored, turned which is a plus (but even if this wasn't the case there are sensible steps to take to counter a differing environment). I've never stored the flute in a centrally heated, double glazed house, they have recieved daily playing/ constant moisture levels, and I haven't oiled them either... 
I've seen plenty of Sam's flutes that have cracked; and they've looked like flutes that should crack: dry and sad looking, loose joints and/ or loose rings...
Regards,
Harry.
I've seen plenty of Sam's flutes that have cracked; and they've looked like flutes that should crack: dry and sad looking, loose joints and/ or loose rings...
Regards,
Harry.
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Cathy Wilde
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I totally agree with Harry on the climate thing. Summer here is often about 60% humidity. Winter here is more like 35%. And while I oil mine to "waterproof" them a bit, I don't think of oil as a moisturizer -- in my mind, that would come from sensible humidification and ideally, daily playing.
When I've had rings loosen it's because the flute's drying out. Case in point, I sent my Hamilton back over to Hammy for a couple of fixes. After two days back here, it sounded like chud; the keys started leaking and a ring fell off. Plain and simple, the flute was shrinking, and the rings weren't! My three Irish flutes love their humidity. My American flutes, not as much. My McGee flute doesn't give a darn one way or another; it plays the same when it's dry as when it's raining.
In the winter, all but the McGee seem to need a twist of Teflon tape or beeswax unless they're played every day. In the summer, they're fine, and my regularly played flutes even seem a bit too tight at the joints, so it's extra grease for them.
Yeah, I think the environmental changes have a whole lot to do with it, and that's why I adjust accordingly, whether it's with humidification or oiling or whatever. Even though the wood's no longer growing on a tree, it's still an organic thing and the cells inside expand and contract with moisture, same as with my annoying front door that swells and sticks in the summer and works like a dream in the winter.
WHY is it I don't play Boehm flute anymore? WHAT was I thinking????
When I've had rings loosen it's because the flute's drying out. Case in point, I sent my Hamilton back over to Hammy for a couple of fixes. After two days back here, it sounded like chud; the keys started leaking and a ring fell off. Plain and simple, the flute was shrinking, and the rings weren't! My three Irish flutes love their humidity. My American flutes, not as much. My McGee flute doesn't give a darn one way or another; it plays the same when it's dry as when it's raining.
In the winter, all but the McGee seem to need a twist of Teflon tape or beeswax unless they're played every day. In the summer, they're fine, and my regularly played flutes even seem a bit too tight at the joints, so it's extra grease for them.
Yeah, I think the environmental changes have a whole lot to do with it, and that's why I adjust accordingly, whether it's with humidification or oiling or whatever. Even though the wood's no longer growing on a tree, it's still an organic thing and the cells inside expand and contract with moisture, same as with my annoying front door that swells and sticks in the summer and works like a dream in the winter.
WHY is it I don't play Boehm flute anymore? WHAT was I thinking????
Deja Fu: The sense that somewhere, somehow, you've been kicked in the head exactly like this before.
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Sylvester
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My Murray is 1 year-old now. No cracks so far. It's been very little oiled, a bit more generously the first two months. The temperature range in my town goes from -2º to 46º. Very dry conditions that force to supply with some humidity device. As many of us, I always dry the moist after playing and store the flute in the case never near heaters or cooling.
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Rob Sharer
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Murray
Here's a link to a brief clip of Michael Hynes getting a big, woody tone out of his Murray flute (blackwood, six keys, unlined head-joint, left handed):
http://www.copperplatemailorder.com/upl ... c001-1.ram
Rob
http://www.copperplatemailorder.com/upl ... c001-1.ram
Rob